A recipe for the Solar System

How tiny dust grains grow into giant planets is one of the great mysteries of astronomy. New models show for the first time how dust can locally accumulate in the protoplanetary disks around young stars, making the rapid growth of planetary cores possible at all. In this way, Jupiter could form early and, as a massive giant, steer the evolution of the entire Solar System. This also explains its present-day architecture, including the diversity of planets and small bodies at its outer edge.